At the next General Election, we’ll be encouraging MPs to prioritise making sure everyone finds a place to call home

It is highly likely that we’ll have a General Election this year, and The Connection will be engaging with our local MPs, candidates and policymakers to ensure that homelessness is high on their agenda – as well as the next government’s.

During the cost of living crisis and following the end of Everyone In, we are seeing an increase in people returning to the streets or sleeping rough for the first time. Tragically, this has also led to an increase in registered deaths of people experiencing homelessness. It shouldn’t be this way – and it doesn’t need to be.

At The Connection we support people experiencing the most severe form of homelessness – rough sleeping – and who often have additional support needs and experiences of trauma. Their needs are not being met by existing systems, trapping them in cycles of homelessness.

We have identified three key areas that we feel will have the greatest impact for people experiencing homelessness:

1. Urgently invest in affordable and suitable social housing for people with complex needs
2. Invest in flexible mental health and addiction services for people with complex needs
3. Ensure gender-specific support for women from commissioning to service design and delivery

We will be working to highlight these points with MPs and candidates in the run-up to the Election (and beyond), and will be sharing details of how you can get involved. Make sure that you are subscribed to The Connection’s newsletter and follow us on social media to stay up to date.

If you have any questions about this work, please contact our Advocacy Coordinator katy.parker@cstm.org.uk.